Explore best practices for creating inclusive apps for users of Apple accessibility features and users from diverse backgrounds.

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Recommended practice for VoiceOver accessibility label aggregation in UIKit (SwiftUI .combine equivalent)
We are seeking guidance on the Apple-recommended way to handle aggregated accessibility labels in UIKit. When grouping elements into a single accessibility container, we need VoiceOver to read their labels with a natural structural pause, without injecting conversational grammar. SwiftUI handles this automatically and gracefully with .combine, but we need the endorsed UIKit equivalent for complex custom views. The Problem When manually aggregating child labels into a parent's accessibilityLabel in UIKit, VoiceOver behaves inconsistently in non-Latin scripts. For example, if we simply join the strings with a Latin comma (", "), VoiceOver ignores the separator in languages like Arabic or Japanese, reading the aggregated labels as a confusing run-on sentence. What we have considered and tried: NSListFormatter: While it correctly localizes separators, it inappropriately injects list grammar (e.g., adding "and" before the final item). Since our UI elements are merely spatially grouped on the screen and do not form a grammatical sentence, this confuses users. Hardcoded punctuation (e.g., Latin commas): Works fine for English, but fails to trigger VoiceOver pauses in non-Latin scripts as mentioned above. Double Line Break (\n\n): We found that joining strings with a double line break universally forces a hard stop and structural pause across all languages without injecting grammar. However, we have received community feedback suggesting that using newlines might cause poor formatting or UX issues on Braille displays. Our Questions: Is there an Apple-endorsed native approach to replicate SwiftUI's .combine behavior in UIKit that avoids injecting conversational grammar? If we must join the strings manually, is using a double line break (\n\n) considered safe and acceptable for Braille display users? Or is it better practice to manually map and apply localized commas? Any guidance from the Accessibility Technologies team or developers who have tackled this in large-scale UIKit apps would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
2
0
1k
Jun ’26
Accessibility & Games (any platform)
For games that share a common codebase with multiple targets, what would be the recommended way to handle accessibility? For example an iOS game with a WatchOS companion that can played standalone. Any word how Voice Control will affect this combination? For iOS 26, I've had to handle some aspects of accessibility separately and needed to separate out some of shared codebase into each target.
2
0
1.1k
Jun ’26
Do you recommend using the same label for Voice Over and Voice Control for icon buttons?
For example, our app uses an info icon in many places to open modals that explain useful terms or provide disclosures. For Voice Control it feels most natural to have users trigger it with a label like "info" as that matches the icon on-screen but for Voice Over "info" sometimes feels too vague and something like "Open terms to know" would provide more context. Is this just a good example of the use-case for accessibilityInputLabels so that we can have a more descriptive value for Voice Over and also provide a more natural label for Voice Control? Or should we re-think how to label these in a way that is consistent for both technologies?
2
0
1k
Jun ’26
Is there any interest in offering a Swift overlay for HIServices AX Apis?
The existing API is roughly imported into Swift and pretty thorny. Some of this can be addressed with a wrapper library but some of it is much more difficult, like addressing AXObserver not having a finished event or callback to signify when it would be safe to do cleanup in a concurrent environment. A Swift overlay could be a great opportunity to make third part assistive tech more accessible.
3
0
938
Jun ’26
In SwiftUI, are there any good ways to set a custom tap target, to ensure it's always 44x44.
for example: Our designers want our "Disclosures/Legal" info icon, to be 4px from the text. So we end up needing to "hack" around the view, to make the info tap target exist "over" the text. without any hacks, if we use a 20x20 icon + 4 padding, the tap target is only 28px wide. the "hack" in question, usually involves adding paddings + inverted (negative) padding, to increase the tap target, without affecting layout
1
1
832
Jun ’26
Allow third-party tvOS apps to receive numeric key input for channel selection
On tvOS, third-party apps cannot read number key presses from a connected keyboard or remote (except inside a text field). There is also no HDMI-CEC API. Because of this, a live-TV / IPTV app cannot let the user simply type a channel number to change channels. This excludes a large group of users, especially older people. They have used numbered channels for their whole lives — they remember that a given number is a specific channel and just want to press that number to get there. It is the simplest and most familiar way for them to use a TV. Making them navigate an on-screen grid with the Siri Remote instead is much harder and unfamiliar for them. Please give apps a way to support numeric channel entry on tvOS — for example by letting apps receive number key presses (0–9) from a connected Bluetooth keyboard/keypad without forcing a text field, or by exposing the numeric keys from the TV's own remote via HDMI-CEC. Other TV platforms already pass number keys from the remote to apps, so this works for them today. tvOS does not, which leaves these users without a basic, expected way to use their TV.
0
1
902
Jun ’26
AssistiveTouch eye tracker HID over USB-C/iAP2 accepted by iPadOS, but gaze point mapping is wrong
I’m implementing an Apple AssistiveTouch eye tracker accessory for iPad over USB-C using iAP2 plus native HID Gaze Point reports. Current state: iAP2 authentication succeeds identification succeeds StartNativeHID is received AssistiveTouchInformation(IsEnabled=true) is received iPadOS enumerates the HID interface and consumes the interrupt IN reports The remaining issue is that the gaze-point behavior is not interpreted as direct screen coordinates. Repeated fixed gaze inputs produce deterministic but incorrect cursor motion, often appearing like orbiting or projection around a locus rather than stable placement. I have tested: the 119-byte Apple example HID descriptor from the Accessory Interface Specification two report-1 layouts: timestamp + x + y status + timestamp + x + y normalized and physical coordinate scaling verified on the wire that the intended report bytes are sent and consumed iPad console logs show internal model point (HID r) values and multiple derived Pointer positions for a single commanded point, which suggests the device is accepted but the gaze report semantics are still not what iPadOS expects. Questions: Is the example Gaze Point HID descriptor in the Apple Accessory Interface Specification sufficient as-is for iPadOS? What exact payload layout is expected for the Gaze Point report? Is a per-sample status byte required in the gaze input report? Are additional HID feature/input reports required for correct interpretation? I can provide: the exact HID descriptor bytes sample report payloads USB analyzer traces iPad console excerpts showing the resulting model-point and pointer projections
3
0
1.2k
Jun ’26
Please make Siri a real search engine
I am a quadriplegic. That means when I ask Siri something she comes back with an answer saying this is what I found on the web. This means nothing to me because I cannot use my fingers to pick up the phone. I I get a better and more detail from Alexa or Google nest. Go ahead and Google and or and Apple AI actually intelligent
3
2
2.7k
Jun ’26
How can users scroll a UIScrollView with Full Keyboard Access to reach off-screen content?
Our app supports Full Keyboard Access. We have a scroll view containing content that extends beyond the visible area. When navigating with the keyboard, focusable elements inside the scroll view are reached and the view scrolls to follow focus, but content that has no focusable elements (e.g. long blocks of static text, images, or footer content below the last control) can't be brought into view by the keyboard alone. Is there a supported way for Full Keyboard Access users to scroll a scroll view to see this off-screen, non-focusable content — e.g. a built-in scroll command, or an API to make the scroll view itself focusable/scrollable via the keyboard — without resorting to custom key handling?
0
0
988
May ’26
Can the Full Keyboard Access focus indicator be removed entirely?
Our app supports Full Keyboard Access. When an element is focused, the system-drawn FKA focus indicator (the ring/overlay) sits over the UI component. This overlay drops the content's colour contrast below the WCAG 2.1 minimums — 4.5:1 for text (1.4.3) and 3:1 for UI components and focus indicators (1.4.11) — causing the focused state to fail accessibility audits. Is there a supported way to completely remove this focus overlay on a view without breaking FKA keyboard navigation or VoiceOver?
1
0
886
May ’26
iOS 26 Full Keyboard Access with custom UITableViewCell
On iOS 26 with Full Keyboard Access enabled, a UITableView(style: .grouped) with custom cells only enumerates section 0 in the Ctrl+Tab focus order (But it works with arrow keys). Cells in sections 1+ are reachable via arrow keys, and canFocusRowAt fires and returns true when arrows spatially reach them — but Tab leaves the table after the last row of section 0 and jumps to the next focus item outside the table. Same code works correctly on iOS 18.x. focusGroupIdentifier strategies (single ID on the table, same ID across view/table/every cell, unique ID per cell) have no effect. tableView.allowsFocus is true. Is this a known iOS 26? Has anyone else run into this? final class CardCell: UITableViewCell { private let cardView = UIView() override init(style: CellStyle, reuseIdentifier: String?) { super.init(style: style, reuseIdentifier: reuseIdentifier) cardView.backgroundColor = .white cardView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false contentView.addSubview(cardView) NSLayoutConstraint.activate([ cardView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.topAnchor), cardView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.bottomAnchor), cardView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.leadingAnchor), cardView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.trailingAnchor), ]) } required init?(coder: NSCoder) { fatalError() } } // Table: UITableView(style: .grouped), 3 sections, register CardCell. // Reproduce on iOS 26 with FKA on → Tab from section 0 leaves the table, // skipping every cell in sections 1+.
1
0
1.4k
May ’26
Dictation / German – Bugs
Dictation in German has a couple of persistent bugs. Saying "Anführungszeichen" inserts punctuation AND writes out the word: When dictating the word „Anführungszeichen" in German, the app both inserts quotation marks AND writes out the word literally. Expected: either insert the punctuation OR write the word – not both. Manual quotation mark followed by automatic blank key during dictation. Compound words incorrectly split into separate words: Compound words are either cohesive or hyphenated, the english spelling with two separate words is simply wrong!) Spaces incorrectly added around hyphens in compound words: German dictation adds spaces before and after hyphens. In German orthography, spaces around hyphens are only correct for em dashes (Gedankenstrich), never for regular hyphens in compound words.
1
0
1.5k
May ’26
Recommended practice for VoiceOver accessibility label aggregation in UIKit (SwiftUI .combine equivalent)
We are seeking guidance on the Apple-recommended way to handle aggregated accessibility labels in UIKit. When grouping elements into a single accessibility container, we need VoiceOver to read their labels with a natural structural pause, without injecting conversational grammar. SwiftUI handles this automatically and gracefully with .combine, but we need the endorsed UIKit equivalent for complex custom views. The Problem When manually aggregating child labels into a parent's accessibilityLabel in UIKit, VoiceOver behaves inconsistently in non-Latin scripts. For example, if we simply join the strings with a Latin comma (", "), VoiceOver ignores the separator in languages like Arabic or Japanese, reading the aggregated labels as a confusing run-on sentence. What we have considered and tried: NSListFormatter: While it correctly localizes separators, it inappropriately injects list grammar (e.g., adding "and" before the final item). Since our UI elements are merely spatially grouped on the screen and do not form a grammatical sentence, this confuses users. Hardcoded punctuation (e.g., Latin commas): Works fine for English, but fails to trigger VoiceOver pauses in non-Latin scripts as mentioned above. Double Line Break (\n\n): We found that joining strings with a double line break universally forces a hard stop and structural pause across all languages without injecting grammar. However, we have received community feedback suggesting that using newlines might cause poor formatting or UX issues on Braille displays. Our Questions: Is there an Apple-endorsed native approach to replicate SwiftUI's .combine behavior in UIKit that avoids injecting conversational grammar? If we must join the strings manually, is using a double line break (\n\n) considered safe and acceptable for Braille display users? Or is it better practice to manually map and apply localized commas? Any guidance from the Accessibility Technologies team or developers who have tackled this in large-scale UIKit apps would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Replies
2
Boosts
0
Views
1k
Activity
Jun ’26
Accessibility & Games (any platform)
For games that share a common codebase with multiple targets, what would be the recommended way to handle accessibility? For example an iOS game with a WatchOS companion that can played standalone. Any word how Voice Control will affect this combination? For iOS 26, I've had to handle some aspects of accessibility separately and needed to separate out some of shared codebase into each target.
Replies
2
Boosts
0
Views
1.1k
Activity
Jun ’26
adjusting navigationTitle based on dynamic type size
I've found myself chasing my tail trying to programmatically adjust my .navigationTitle in SwiftUI so it doesn't get truncated given various dynamic type classes mixed with various device widths... Any guidance here on how to think about adjusting Ul copy based on AX type size constraints?
Replies
4
Boosts
0
Views
1k
Activity
Jun ’26
Do you recommend using the same label for Voice Over and Voice Control for icon buttons?
For example, our app uses an info icon in many places to open modals that explain useful terms or provide disclosures. For Voice Control it feels most natural to have users trigger it with a label like "info" as that matches the icon on-screen but for Voice Over "info" sometimes feels too vague and something like "Open terms to know" would provide more context. Is this just a good example of the use-case for accessibilityInputLabels so that we can have a more descriptive value for Voice Over and also provide a more natural label for Voice Control? Or should we re-think how to label these in a way that is consistent for both technologies?
Replies
2
Boosts
0
Views
1k
Activity
Jun ’26
Is there any interest in offering a Swift overlay for HIServices AX Apis?
The existing API is roughly imported into Swift and pretty thorny. Some of this can be addressed with a wrapper library but some of it is much more difficult, like addressing AXObserver not having a finished event or callback to signify when it would be safe to do cleanup in a concurrent environment. A Swift overlay could be a great opportunity to make third part assistive tech more accessible.
Replies
3
Boosts
0
Views
938
Activity
Jun ’26
multilingual VoiceOver string
Is it possible to use SSML to provide a VO string in multiple languages. For instance, a label in English, but you want it to speak a phrase within that sentence in Spanish for a proper noun.
Replies
3
Boosts
0
Views
887
Activity
Jun ’26
Xc27: Xc27: Accessibility Inspector can not inspect elements the Device Hub
When I try to inspect elements in the device hub, only the full window (group) is selectable. Am I doing it wrong? (FB22976268)
Replies
1
Boosts
0
Views
1k
Activity
Jun ’26
Any specific strategies for handling a button within a button, for VO + Voice/Switch Control?
For example, we have a "card view" that navigates to a comprehensive detail screen... But there's an ellipsis on the card as well, that shows a menu of quick actions. We need both to be tappable. (SwiftUI project)
Replies
2
Boosts
0
Views
876
Activity
Jun ’26
Xc27: Voice Over in the Simulator not working?
I have enabled "Voice Over" in the Device -> Accessibility Menu of the Device Hub, but I hear no Output. I was expecting Voice Over to be active when this option is selected. Running Xc 27 on MacOS 26.5. Do I maybe need to be on MacOS 27?
Replies
1
Boosts
1
Views
865
Activity
Jun ’26
In SwiftUI, are there any good ways to set a custom tap target, to ensure it's always 44x44.
for example: Our designers want our "Disclosures/Legal" info icon, to be 4px from the text. So we end up needing to "hack" around the view, to make the info tap target exist "over" the text. without any hacks, if we use a 20x20 icon + 4 padding, the tap target is only 28px wide. the "hack" in question, usually involves adding paddings + inverted (negative) padding, to increase the tap target, without affecting layout
Replies
1
Boosts
1
Views
832
Activity
Jun ’26
Setting Reduce Transparency programmatically
Can developers programmatically turn on Reduce (Liquid Glass) Transparency for their app? Or just for a view? Or will iOS 27 permit setting Reduce Transparency on an app-by-app basis?
Replies
1
Boosts
0
Views
812
Activity
Jun ’26
My regularly used feature in a AssistiveTouch is not working anybody else restart feature?
I reported it to the beta team already but I was wondering if anybody else is not able to get there device to restart just by one tap using the AssistiveTouch menu?
Replies
3
Boosts
1
Views
762
Activity
Jun ’26
Xc27: Simulator Voice Over not working?
I have enabled "Voice Over" in the Device -> Accessibility Menu of the Device Hub, but I hear no Output. I was expecting Voice Over to be active when this option is selected. Running Xc 27 on MacOS 26.5. Do I need to be on MacOS 27?
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
876
Activity
Jun ’26
Allow third-party tvOS apps to receive numeric key input for channel selection
On tvOS, third-party apps cannot read number key presses from a connected keyboard or remote (except inside a text field). There is also no HDMI-CEC API. Because of this, a live-TV / IPTV app cannot let the user simply type a channel number to change channels. This excludes a large group of users, especially older people. They have used numbered channels for their whole lives — they remember that a given number is a specific channel and just want to press that number to get there. It is the simplest and most familiar way for them to use a TV. Making them navigate an on-screen grid with the Siri Remote instead is much harder and unfamiliar for them. Please give apps a way to support numeric channel entry on tvOS — for example by letting apps receive number key presses (0–9) from a connected Bluetooth keyboard/keypad without forcing a text field, or by exposing the numeric keys from the TV's own remote via HDMI-CEC. Other TV platforms already pass number keys from the remote to apps, so this works for them today. tvOS does not, which leaves these users without a basic, expected way to use their TV.
Replies
0
Boosts
1
Views
902
Activity
Jun ’26
AssistiveTouch eye tracker HID over USB-C/iAP2 accepted by iPadOS, but gaze point mapping is wrong
I’m implementing an Apple AssistiveTouch eye tracker accessory for iPad over USB-C using iAP2 plus native HID Gaze Point reports. Current state: iAP2 authentication succeeds identification succeeds StartNativeHID is received AssistiveTouchInformation(IsEnabled=true) is received iPadOS enumerates the HID interface and consumes the interrupt IN reports The remaining issue is that the gaze-point behavior is not interpreted as direct screen coordinates. Repeated fixed gaze inputs produce deterministic but incorrect cursor motion, often appearing like orbiting or projection around a locus rather than stable placement. I have tested: the 119-byte Apple example HID descriptor from the Accessory Interface Specification two report-1 layouts: timestamp + x + y status + timestamp + x + y normalized and physical coordinate scaling verified on the wire that the intended report bytes are sent and consumed iPad console logs show internal model point (HID r) values and multiple derived Pointer positions for a single commanded point, which suggests the device is accepted but the gaze report semantics are still not what iPadOS expects. Questions: Is the example Gaze Point HID descriptor in the Apple Accessory Interface Specification sufficient as-is for iPadOS? What exact payload layout is expected for the Gaze Point report? Is a per-sample status byte required in the gaze input report? Are additional HID feature/input reports required for correct interpretation? I can provide: the exact HID descriptor bytes sample report payloads USB analyzer traces iPad console excerpts showing the resulting model-point and pointer projections
Replies
3
Boosts
0
Views
1.2k
Activity
Jun ’26
Please make Siri a real search engine
I am a quadriplegic. That means when I ask Siri something she comes back with an answer saying this is what I found on the web. This means nothing to me because I cannot use my fingers to pick up the phone. I I get a better and more detail from Alexa or Google nest. Go ahead and Google and or and Apple AI actually intelligent
Replies
3
Boosts
2
Views
2.7k
Activity
Jun ’26
How can users scroll a UIScrollView with Full Keyboard Access to reach off-screen content?
Our app supports Full Keyboard Access. We have a scroll view containing content that extends beyond the visible area. When navigating with the keyboard, focusable elements inside the scroll view are reached and the view scrolls to follow focus, but content that has no focusable elements (e.g. long blocks of static text, images, or footer content below the last control) can't be brought into view by the keyboard alone. Is there a supported way for Full Keyboard Access users to scroll a scroll view to see this off-screen, non-focusable content — e.g. a built-in scroll command, or an API to make the scroll view itself focusable/scrollable via the keyboard — without resorting to custom key handling?
Replies
0
Boosts
0
Views
988
Activity
May ’26
Can the Full Keyboard Access focus indicator be removed entirely?
Our app supports Full Keyboard Access. When an element is focused, the system-drawn FKA focus indicator (the ring/overlay) sits over the UI component. This overlay drops the content's colour contrast below the WCAG 2.1 minimums — 4.5:1 for text (1.4.3) and 3:1 for UI components and focus indicators (1.4.11) — causing the focused state to fail accessibility audits. Is there a supported way to completely remove this focus overlay on a view without breaking FKA keyboard navigation or VoiceOver?
Replies
1
Boosts
0
Views
886
Activity
May ’26
iOS 26 Full Keyboard Access with custom UITableViewCell
On iOS 26 with Full Keyboard Access enabled, a UITableView(style: .grouped) with custom cells only enumerates section 0 in the Ctrl+Tab focus order (But it works with arrow keys). Cells in sections 1+ are reachable via arrow keys, and canFocusRowAt fires and returns true when arrows spatially reach them — but Tab leaves the table after the last row of section 0 and jumps to the next focus item outside the table. Same code works correctly on iOS 18.x. focusGroupIdentifier strategies (single ID on the table, same ID across view/table/every cell, unique ID per cell) have no effect. tableView.allowsFocus is true. Is this a known iOS 26? Has anyone else run into this? final class CardCell: UITableViewCell { private let cardView = UIView() override init(style: CellStyle, reuseIdentifier: String?) { super.init(style: style, reuseIdentifier: reuseIdentifier) cardView.backgroundColor = .white cardView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false contentView.addSubview(cardView) NSLayoutConstraint.activate([ cardView.topAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.topAnchor), cardView.bottomAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.bottomAnchor), cardView.leadingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.leadingAnchor), cardView.trailingAnchor.constraint(equalTo: contentView.trailingAnchor), ]) } required init?(coder: NSCoder) { fatalError() } } // Table: UITableView(style: .grouped), 3 sections, register CardCell. // Reproduce on iOS 26 with FKA on → Tab from section 0 leaves the table, // skipping every cell in sections 1+.
Replies
1
Boosts
0
Views
1.4k
Activity
May ’26
Dictation / German – Bugs
Dictation in German has a couple of persistent bugs. Saying "Anführungszeichen" inserts punctuation AND writes out the word: When dictating the word „Anführungszeichen" in German, the app both inserts quotation marks AND writes out the word literally. Expected: either insert the punctuation OR write the word – not both. Manual quotation mark followed by automatic blank key during dictation. Compound words incorrectly split into separate words: Compound words are either cohesive or hyphenated, the english spelling with two separate words is simply wrong!) Spaces incorrectly added around hyphens in compound words: German dictation adds spaces before and after hyphens. In German orthography, spaces around hyphens are only correct for em dashes (Gedankenstrich), never for regular hyphens in compound words.
Replies
1
Boosts
0
Views
1.5k
Activity
May ’26